ARTIST Helen Thompstone has teamed up with historic pottery company Hudsons of England to add a fine bone china line to her range of giftware.

The partnership will see Helen's designs sold across the world through Hudsons' distributors, as well as via her existing trade customers and the website for her rural enterprise – A Farmer's Daughter.

A chance meeting with Hudsons' design director Helen Smith at a trade show led to the collaboration and Helen, from Eccleshall, said the local connection is really important to her brand.

She launched A Farmer's Daughter in 2009 from her family's farm on her return to Staffordshire, after studying for a degree in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and Design.

Initially she produced a selection of cards and now her range of products includes everything from tea towels to prints and bespoke wedding stationery.

Her Vintage Meat Cuts range has been expanded to the fine bone china mugs made at Hudsons, in Longton, while the factory also produces mugs, plates and bowls in Helen's Farming Essentials designs.

Helen, who now runs A Farmer's Daughter full-time, said: "The meat-cuts mug was developed from an existing design I had on cards and this expands the range. I will be exhibiting it at the Pulse trade show in London this month so it will be interesting to see how it goes down.

"I've just been building up the business and the ranges, but it was when I was introduced to Helen Smith that the fine bone china line took off.

"I was really keen to work with a local ceramics company to produce a china range, and I see our working together as a really positive thing.

"We are both selling to our customers now so we will test the market and see how things go."

As well as having its own in-house designs, Hudsons produces a number of lines for artists. Customers include Harrods, The National Trust, English Heritage and the John Lewis Partnership, alongside independent retailers and consumers.

Managing director Mike Shirley said: "It's great to work with local artists and develop the reputation of Stoke-on-Trent.

"The whole idea is for Hudsons to take the designs worldwide for the good of the artist as well as for us.

"We promote our artists on our backstamp and in our brochures as well – it's a joint venture between the two of us and I think it works.

"These are exciting times. We are working with a growing number of artists now and after being very much a UK-based company supplying the UK, we are now seeing export sales running at about 50 per cent.

"In fact most of our export distributors have taken the A Farmer's Daughter range."

At the beginning of this year Hudsons announced it had secured 'significant' investment in a deal to supply the Annvita English Tea Company chain of tea rooms, based in China.

It expects to double its 40-strong workforce over the next two years as a result of its growth and its commitment to keeping production 100 per cent 'Made in England'.

Helen, who sources all of her production in the UK, said one of the reasons she believes her meat cuts design is so popular is people's increasing awareness of where their food is coming from.

She said: "Cards make up the bulk of my ranges so those are probably my biggest sellers.

"But I am starting to sell a lot more mugs now – it's just a case of putting my collections together."